The present invention relates to a low depth, nestable tray for transporting and storing beverage containers having substantially equal diameters and differently sized top and bottom rims. Examples of such containers are twelve-ounce aluminum cans which are made with similar body diameters and different top and bottom rim diameters.
Cans for soft drinks, beer and other beverages are often stored and transported during the distribution stages thereof in trays or boxes. Previously, single serving sized cans such as those which hold twelve fluid ounces were made in generally uniform sizes. The body diameters and the bottom and top rim diameters were generally consistent so that a tray could accommodate any can in stacked and cross-stacked configurations. However, currently the beverage industries are manufacturing cans having substantially equal body diameters and smaller top and bottom rim diameters.
An explanation for the varying diameters of the top and bottom rims on aluminum cans is economics. The cost of manufacturing is decreased by making cans with smaller top and bottom rims. Therefore, as the beverage industries switch to cans having smaller top and bottom rims, there has been a need for a returnable and reusable tray for storing, displaying and transporting cans which is light weight, easy to handle and economical. The prior art does not provide a tray which can accommodate cans with varying top and bottom rim diameters in both stacked and cross-stacked configurations.
Examples of returnable and reusable single purpose trays are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,932,532; U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,955 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,774. The previous trays are configured for use with cans of substantially the same top and bottom rim diameters. A bottler or distributor which uses the newly introduced cans with smaller top and bottom rims cannot effectively use the prior trays since any interlocking features for stacking or cross-stacking loaded trays would not fit correctly. The result may be unstable loads of stacked and cross-stacked trays, and inefficiency.
Plastic low depth cases have been developed wherein the side walls are lower than the height of the stored containers. Since containers placed in the cases would extend above the side walls, the containers in a lower case support the weight of the other cases stacked on top of them. Metal cans generally have the structural integrity to bear the compressive loads of loaded and stacked trays.
Some major problems experienced with previous nestable trays are spreading or fraying of the side walls and "shingling" between trays placed in close side-by-side or end-to-end relation. The spreading or fraying problem often compounds the "shingling" problem. The present invention addresses both of these frequent complaints of previous trays. Structural supports to prevent spreading or fraying of the side walls are provided, which in turn help alleviate the "shingling" problem. Moreover, the side walls of the present tray are provided with additional structural improvements to avoid "shingling."
As to "shingling," previous nestable trays, which have nesting tabs or ribs on the exterior of the side walls, often are not easily handled because the tabs or ribs on the exterior of the side walls provide a catch surface between trays which come into contact. When stacks of trays are placed in close side-by-side and end-to-end relation, any catch surface such as a rib or tab on the exterior of the band will tend to land and rest on the upper edge or rim of the band of a neighboring tray. This overlapping of adjacent trays causes one end of the tray to be raised with respect to the other and is commonly referred to as "shingling". Shingling is disruptive of load stability on a pallet since it initially prevents the achievement of a perfectly squared load. Stacks which are unstable because of shingling are undesirable and can be a hazard. There exists a need for a nestable tray which is constructed to avoid shingling.
Spreading or fraying of side wall structures from nesting is a problem encountered with previous nestable trays. When a large number of trays are nested, the side walls of the trays near the bottom of the nested stack, which bear more of the load, have a tendency to spread or splay outward because no structural provision has been made for supporting the weight of trays nested above. This damage has a cumulative effect and results in a shorter service life for the trays, and thus additional expense for replacement. The shingling problem can be compounded in trays having no provision to prevent spreading or fraying. Any nesting tabs or ribs on the exterior of the side walls are even more prone to shingling or catching on other trays as the side walls spread outward. There has been a need for trays which maintain their structural integrity over repeated uses in both nested and loaded configurations. The present invention addresses the spreading problem by providing structural features to support the weight of stacked and nested trays. Since shingling is often compounded by spreading, this improvement alone would greatly alleviate the shingling problem. Moreover, as discussed above, the present tray also provides structural features on the outside of the side walls to prevent shingling.
Another problem encountered in using previous trays, particularly for cans, has been damage to the sides of the cans, ranging from slight scratches to more severe dents and even ruptures, from excessive contact with the walls of the trays during handling and transport. Simply the operating vibration of a truck containing the loaded trays can cause damage to the cans if there is excessive contact and rubbing between the walls of the tray and the cans. There is a need for a tray which can hold cans in spaced relation to one another and the wall structure to prevent damage to the cans and to other types of containers as well.